1. (1) Definition of Agricultural Terms. As used in this rule, the term:

   1. (a) "Agricultural Commodities" includes livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, wildlife, and all crops such as fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains, and other commodities grown in the soil or other growth mediums for use or profit.
   2. (b) "Horticultural Commodities" means flowers and nursery products such as sod, fruit trees, shade trees, holiday trees, ornamental plants, and shrubs.
   3. (c) "Raising" includes planting the seeds, watering or irrigating, applying insecticide or fertilizer and otherwise caring for the commodity before harvesting. In regard to livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, and wildlife, "raising" includes caring for, feeding, shearing, breeding, training, and management.
   4. (d) "Harvesting" includes picking, cutting, threshing, shucking corn, baling hay, and hulling nuts. Horticultural commodities are harvested when they are made available for sale.
   5. (e) "Farm" includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing animals, and truck farms, plantations, ranches, nurseries, ranges, orchards, and greenhouses and other similar structures used primarily for the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities. Greenhouses and other similar structures used primarily for other purposes, such as display, storage, and fabrication of wreaths, corsages, and bouquets, do not constitute "farms."

2. (2) Agricultural Labor as defined in Subsection 35A-4-206(1)(a).

   1. (a) Agricultural labor includes services performed on a farm by a worker for any person in connection with any of the following activities:

      1. (i) the cultivation of the soil;
      2. (ii) the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training, or management of livestock, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals, or wildlife; or
      3. (iii) the raising or harvesting of any other agricultural or horticultural commodity.

   2. (b) Services performed in connection with the following activities constitute agricultural labor only if the services are performed on a farm:

      1. (i) the production or harvesting of maple sap;
      2. (ii) the raising or harvesting of mushrooms; or
      3. (iii) the hatching of poultry.
   3. (c) Services performed in connection with the operation of a hatchery, if not operated as part of a poultry or other farm, do not constitute agricultural labor.

3. (3) Agricultural Labor as defined in Subsection 35A-4-206(1)(b).

   1. (a) Agricultural labor includes the following activities performed by a worker in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of one or more farms, provided the major part, defined as 50% or more, of the services is performed on a farm:

      1. (i) services performed in connection with the operation, management, conservation, improvement, or maintenance of the farm or its tools or equipment; or
      2. (ii) services performed in salvaging timber, or clearing land of brush and other debris, left by a hurricane, storm, flood, or other natural disaster.
   2. (b) The services described in Subsection R994-206-101(2)(a)(i) may include services performed by carpenters, painters, mechanics, farm supervisors, irrigation engineers, bookkeepers, and other skilled or semi-skilled workers, which contribute in any way to the conduct of the farm or farms operated by the person employing them. "Agricultural labor" does not include services performed by workers of commercial concerns that contract with a farmer to repair, maintain, or renovate farm properties.

4. (4) Agricultural Labor as defined in Subsection 35A-4-206(1)(c). Agricultural labor includes the following activities performed by a worker in the employ of any person without regard to the place where the services are performed.

   1. (a) The production or harvesting of agricultural commodities defined in the Federal Agricultural Marketing Act, 12 U.S.C. 1141j. These commodities are limited to crude gum, also known as oleoresin, from a living tree and gum spirits of turpentine and gum rosin processed from crude gum by the original producer of the crude gum.
   2. (b) The ginning of cotton.
   3. (c) The operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or water ways if not owned or operated for profit and used primarily for farming purposes.

5. (5) Agricultural Labor as defined in Subsection 35A-4-206(1)(d).

   1. (a) Agricultural labor includes services performed by a worker in the handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, of any agricultural or horticultural commodity if:

      1. (i) the services are performed by the worker in the employment of an operator of a farm or the employ of a group of operators of farms, other than a cooperative organization;
      2. (ii) the services are performed with respect to the commodity in its unmanufactured state; and
      3. (iii) the operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which the services are performed during the pay period, or the group of operators produced 100% of the commodity with respect to which the services are performed during the pay period.
   2. (b) The term "operator of a farm" as used in this section means an owner, tenant, or other person, in possession of a farm and engaged in the operation of the farm.
   3. (c) The services described in this Subsection R994-206-101(5) do not constitute agricultural labor if performed in the employ of a cooperative organization. The term "organization" includes corporations, joint-stock companies, and associations which are treated as corporations pursuant to Subsection 7701(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For purposes of this Subsection R994-206-101(5)(c), any unincorporated group of operators shall be deemed a cooperative organization if the number of operators comprising the group is more than 20 at any time during the calendar quarter in which the services involved are performed.

   4. (d) Processing services which change the commodity from its raw or natural state do not constitute agricultural labor. Services performed with respect to a commodity after its character has been changed from its raw or natural state by a processing operation do not constitute agricultural labor.

      1. (i) The extraction of juices from fruits or vegetables is a processing operation which changes the character of the fruits or vegetables from their raw or natural state and, therefore, does not constitute agricultural labor.
      2. (ii) Services performed in the processing of maple sap into maple syrup or maple sugar do not constitute agricultural labor.
      3. (iii) Services performed in the cutting and drying of fruits or vegetables are processing operations which do not change the character of the fruits or vegetables constitute agricultural labor, if the other requisite conditions are met.
   5. (e) The term "commodity" refers to a single agricultural or horticultural product. For example, apples are to be treated as a single commodity, while apples and peaches are to be treated as two separate commodities.
   6. (f) The services with respect to each commodity are to be considered separately in determining whether the condition set forth in Subsection R994-206-101(5)(a)(iii) has been satisfied. The portion of the commodity produced by an operator or group of operators with respect to which the services described in Subsection R994-206-101(5) are performed by a particular worker shall be determined on the basis of the pay period in which the services were performed by the worker.
   7. (g) The services described in Subsection R994-206-101(5) do not include services performed in connection with commercial canning or commercial freezing or in connection with any commodity after its delivery to a terminal market for distribution for consumption.
   8. (h) Agricultural labor does not include services performed by stenographers, bookkeepers, clerks, and other office employees, even though the services may be in connection with agricultural labor. However, to the extent that the services of these individuals are performed in the employ of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm and are performed in major part on a farm, they may be considered agricultural labor under Subsection R991-206-101(3).

Agricultural labor is exempt under Subsection 35A-4-205(1)(c) of the Act unless it is covered under Subsection 35A-4-204(2)(j). Subsection 35A-4-204(2)(j) covers larger agricultural employers based on wages paid or number of workers employed.

KEY: unemployment compensation, employment tests

Date of Last Change: October 4, 2022

Notice of Continuation: March 3, 2025

Authorizing, and Implemented or Interpreted Law: 35A-4-206